Sea-Water Air Conditioning Plan for Honolulu, Hawaii Finishes Funding

Recently the state of Hawaii passed a law requiring new buildings to install solar water heater. Now investors have secured the final funding for another green initiative in the island state: Seawater air conditioning.

The project is titled, appropriately enough, Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, and is being funded to the tune of $10.75 million by private investors, with the balance of the estimated $152 million in project costs to be covered by US and Swedish investors.Touting the project, HSWAC President and CEO William Mahlum said, "Seawater air conditioning will protect businesses from the skyrocketing electric rates caused by oil price increases and everybody will benefit from a cleaner environment," adding “Reducing our use of fossil fuels and preserving the environment will be a wonderful legacy that we all leave to future generations of Hawaii residents."

Cool Water Drawn from Ocean, Circulated to Cool BuildingsThe way the seawater air conditioning system will work is this: Cool water is drawn from 1,600 feet down in the ocean, pumped to a station onshore where the salt water will be used to cool fresh water being circulated in a closed-loop system through customers buildings. After cooling the circulating fresh water, the seawater is returned to the ocean at a shallower depth.

Construction is scheduled to begin in early January 2009.

Though this is interesting unto itself, and could certainly reduce fossil fuels used for air conditioning in a place where 90% of its fuel is imported, if the electricity used to power the system was generated renewably, then they’d really be onto something.